Thursday, October 9, 2014

Women have achieved in many fields –
have been to the fore in diverse fields …… this woman too is a great
achiever.

She is a Rajput hailing from
the northern part of India.She went to
us after marriage, some time before 9/11 – she was in Boston at that time.

As a psychologist and clinician, she attended
to people impacted by terror attacks.

She wanted to serve the country by
joining the army ……

… and ….. became first of her kind .. !!

Traditionally, a chaplain is a
minister, such as a priest, rabbi - representative of a religious tradition,
attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit,
school, police department, university, or private chapel. Though originally the
word "chaplain" referred to representatives of the Christian faith, it
is now also applied to people of other religions or philosophical
traditions–such as in the case of the humanist chaplains serving with military
forces and an increasing number of chaplaincies at American universities. United
States military chaplains hold positions in the armed forces of the United
States and conduct religious services
and provide counselling for their adherents. There are about 2,900 chaplains on
active duty. Chaplains have served in the various branches of the United States
armed forces since their formation, including in the Continental Army during
the American Revolution.

Congress authorized
the hiring of an Army chaplain in 1791. General Carl Spaatz, the first Air
Force Chief of Staff, ordered the institution of a separate Air Force
chaplaincy in 1948. The Armed Forces
Chaplains Board (AFCB) is an organizational entity within the United States
Department of Defense established to advise the Secretary of Defense and the
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on religious, ethical,
and moral matters, in addition to a number of policy issues affecting religious
ministry and the support of the free exercise of religion within the military
services.

Ms Pratima Dharm
moved to Michigan with her husband, pursued her dream of studying theology and religion. She joined
the Ashland Theological Seminary as a full-time student and took rigorous
classes and training to become a chaplain, travelling between Ohio (Seminary
headquarters) and Michigan for 2-3 years. She had all the formal training of Army
personnel (operations, logistics) except weapons and was assigned a soldier at
all times to keep me safe.

Pratima
Dharm, is in news. She recently retired
as the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. Army, and now has been appointed as the first Hindu
chaplain at the Georgetown University. The Hindu and other newspapers report
that the Georgetown University has appointed its first Hindu priest —a woman —
to serve the religious needs of its Hindu students, whose number has increased
in recent years.

Founded in 1789, Georgetown
University is the oldest Jesuit and Catholic university in the U.S. Ms. Dharm
began her new assignment at Georgetown on October 1, 2014, the university said
in a media statement. “War can dehumanise you and I was watching the
dehumanisation of my soldiers, so I was fighting to give them a sense of
family,” says Ms. Dharm, who began her stint with the Army in 2006. “Army
Ministry has touched me so deeply and it has made me a better chaplain and a
better human being,” said Ms. Dharm. Ms. Dharm will lead the weekly Hindu pujas
or prayer services, now attended by about 100 students. She would also look at
programmes that could better Hindu education on campus and work closely with
other religious groups on campus. She said, “For these students, it means a lot
to be able to practice their faith away from home, and many of them have
travelled from far away to attend this great university.”

“The addition of
Chaplain Dharm to the Campus Ministry staff is a big achievement for Georgetown
and it will truly aid the university in fulfilling its mission of cura
personalis by providing an outlet for students to deepen their understanding of
Hinduism and to explore their personal faith connection,” said Smiti Mohan,
president of the university’s Hindu Students Association.

Ms. Dharm earned her
bachelor’s degree in psychology from Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey
University in Mumbai. She also holds a master’s degree in psychology from
Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, and a master’s degree in theology from
Ashland Seminary, a Christian seminary in Ohio and Michigan.

Georgetown was the
first Catholic university to hire a rabbi to serve as a chaplain in 1968. Three
decades later, it became the first American university to hire a Muslim cleric
to serve as a full-time chaplain ~ and how it has a Hindu chaplain too. We try to ape
Western society in many ways ….but, sadly, the Hindu faiths and symbols are
ridiculed in Cinemas and in public forums by non-believers and those who do not
understand the ethos and values.